The Gifts We Take
by venivincere
Summary: Some gifts we get to take with us.


Author: Venivincere  
  
Title: The Gifts We Take  
  
Date: December 10th  
  
Rating: PG  
  
Fandom: Harry Potter  
  
Pairing: Harry Potter/Severus Snape  
  
Summary: Some gifts we get to take with us.  
  
Disclaimer: Characters, locales and settings in this story property of J. K.   
  
Rowling and her cohorts. I can't even afford groceries, so please don't even think of suing.  
  
Feedback address: venivincere (at) hotmail (dot) com  
  
Advertisement: Part of the Slash Advent Calendar, Advent, 2003, located at www (dot) kardasi (dot) com / Advent / 2003  
  
Betas: Villainny and DementorDelta, two emminently discerning ladies. My thanks for making this comprehensible!  
  
Notes: Be sure to read the sequel, The Gifts We Give, here on FFN or at the Slash Advent Calendar!  
  
Kissed by many tears, he was -- not always the ones that charge in runnels down the cheeks, but the kind that make the heart heave and sob in its casing, the kind that sink the bravest soul in despair. War did that to him. Yet still he had capacity for joy, set off with nothing more fancy or less mundane than a memory that was good. Professor Snape, in his efficiency, managed to give Harry just that, in a compact package: a fleet, golden snitch.  
  
It was a gift he could take. It fit in his pocket, and if he had ever thought of things in those terms, he would have called it a blessing. When so many dearer were left behind or destroyed in this war, this he could have with him -- and use it to invoke all the others with just a glance at its shining golden surface, the rubbing of a finger on its smooth-edged design, or the whispering of a half-unfurled wing stroking his wrist. This one small gift warmed his heart, and made a quiet joy well within him.  
  
Severus was sent to Harry's encampment a week after giving him the snitch and three days before Christmas. He arrived with Order news and a hastily-spelled Portkey to the gates of Hogwarts.  
  
"You are not, under Iany/I circumstances, to use this before tomorrow noon. Do you understand?"  
  
"Yes." Harry fingered the snitch in his pocket, and it slipped out into his hand.   
  
"Also, do not Apparate anywhere until the all-clear. We still haven't caught the --"  
  
"I know. We covered it in Tactics tonight." Harry followed the Professor's eyes and saw that he was looking at the snitch. The memory flashed of Severus handing it over to him, unwrapped, in this same tent:   
  
I" Dumbledore thought you should have a reminder of what you're fighting for. Something good. Especially at this time of year." Snape paused. "I thought so, too." He rolled the snitch over in his hand with his thumb, then handed it to Harry. "It was from your last game." He paused again. "You flew very well." Their eyes met, and that recent and particular something that was never voiced occurred between them again, and suddenly the air in the tent seemed close and humid./I  
  
A quick intake of breath returned him to the present. "I haven't got --" Harry started. "I mean, I haven't been out of here all week -- I wanted to get you something, too, Professor..."   
  
Snape looked startled. "Mr. Potter, there is no need."   
  
"I know. I just --" His eyes darted to Snape and he was surprised to find him staring back intently, half-hopeful. He took a step closer to the Professor, and the slight hitch in Snape's breathing sent a tingle into his stomach.   
  
"I just wanted to give you something in return," Harry said. "A good thing. A reminder of something happy, too, and I -- I don't think I even know anything like that about you. Something happy, I mean." There was nothing, not from the first personal knowledge he ever discovered about Snape in his Occlumency lessons, not from anything revealed in the pensieve, nothing good at all from the awkward little chats over tea after Order meetings in the basement kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place.   
  
Harry felt something in his chest clamp tight at the realization. He took another step closer, and then he was standing right before Snape in the bare-bones little tent, watching the faint glow of ILumos/I reflect from his eyes. "How can I not know of something good in your life?"   
  
To his utter surprise, Snape seized his shoulder. It took a moment before Harry was aware that he was not shaking him or pushing him away, just holding on -- holding it and looking as though he wanted to say something but couldn't. He made a couple false starts, then:   
  
"Harry," he whispered. "I do have good things in my life. I have my friendships, though you don't see them. I have Hogwarts. I would have never had them had I not had a second chance. But the most important good thing I have is hope."   
  
The clamping in Harry's chest increased, and he moaned. "Hope! How can you? We're losing this war! Our troops are tired, and dwindling by the day. Our envoys have failed. I slog through this mess every day trying to liven people up, and they're grayer and more tired each time!"   
  
"And that is why I have it," said Snape. "You are out here every day, without fail. No matter what, they see you and you rally them, tired as they are."   
  
Harry stared, the snitch ready to fall out of his hand.   
  
"You give them that, and that gives me hope." Snape slid his hand down Harry's shoulder and curled Harry's fingers around the snitch. "I didn't think, Mr. Potter, when we first began your Occlumency lessons, that you would ever be able to do what you needed to do. I am more pleased than you could know to discover I was in error."   
  
"Professor..." Harry's other hand clasped over the one holding his. "I -- thank you. For your confidence. For everything." And taking the chance he wasn't amiss, he leaned forward the rest of the distance, pressing their hands into his chest, and kissed Snape quickly on the lips.   
  
Snape colored plum, and stared at Harry. The corner of his mouth turned up, and finally, he found his voice. "And now I have another good thing." He pulled the tent flap aside to leave, and walked out with his fingers on his lips.   
  
And Harry realized Snape had given him another gift, hope, and that this time, he'd given one in return. Snape took with him Harry's kiss. 


End file.
